1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector, and more particularly to a connector which includes a plurality of contacts formed by blanking and bending one elastic metal plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed a connector comprised of a housing, a plurality of pairs of signal contacts (differential signal contacts), and a plurality of ground contacts (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2007-179960).
The plurality of pairs of signal contacts and the plurality of ground contacts are disposed in the housing along a predetermined arranging direction.
Each of the signal contacts and the ground contacts includes a terminal portion, a contact portion, and a connecting portion. The terminal portion is inserted through an associated one of through holes in a substrate. The contact portion is brought into contact with an associated one of contacts of a mating connector. The connecting portion connects between the terminal portion and the contact portion. The connecting portion is bent at right angles.
The connecting portion of each signal contact performs pitch changing in which the position of the terminal portion and the position of the contact portion are displaced in the arranging direction. This pitch changing widens spacing (spacing in the arranging direction) between the terminal portions of each pair of signal contacts, so that the adjacent through holes are not overlapped, which prevents short-circuit.
The contact portions of the signal contacts and the ground contacts are arranged in a row, and the terminal portions of the same are arranged in three rows.
According to the above-described conventional connector, it is possible to realize a narrower pitch of the contact portions, and at the same time, it is possible to increase the spacing between the terminal portions without increasing the size of the housing.
If it is intended to produce the above-described plurality of contacts by blanking and bending one elastic metal plate, the terminal portions of the adjacent contacts interfere with each other, so that it has been impossible to produce the contacts by such a method.
To make it possible to do this, it is only required to increase the pitch of the contacts in the arranging direction, blank the elastic metal plate, and then, reduce the pitch of the contacts in the arranging direction by bending a carrier (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H08-8034). However, this method necessitates an elastic metal plate having a large width (width in the contact arranging direction), which increases the amount of material which is disposed of after blanking, causing waste of resources.